Before the magical handshake Kenya politics was just a one loud arena of confrontations. Hon Raila Odinga and the entire Nasa team accused President Uhuru Kenyatta’s win as computer generated. This gave rise to this term “vifaranga vya computer.”
But ODM is determined to prevent the same from repeating itself in the next elections.
Senator James Orengo who is among the top outspoken ODM legislatures has revealed plans to curb this vice.
Orengo said ODM had already listed key areas to monitor ahead of the next polls. This, he said, would help guard against vote rigging.
The lawmaker said the party would monitor the forthcoming population census, because in the past it had been used to create imaginary numbers for election manipulation.
The Orange party is also actively involved in pushing for electoral reforms, including having the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) commissioners picked by political parties as well as staggering the elections for proper monitoring.
Resource distribution“Census is important for planning and for political power because our system is one person one vote, and also in terms of distribution of resources numbers do count, he said.
“As ODM we are taking the issue of census seriously and this time around we cannot leave it to chance in circumstances where opportunities are handed to people to come up with numbers that do not exist,” he added.
He said ODM is pushing of a system that is accountable and transparent.
“Quite a number of countries use biometrics, and (the census) should be biometric based. Elections are based on numbers and once we have the accurate numbers of the population and those who register as voters, and those who turn out to vote,” he added.